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Pawprints In The Snow/Chapter Four
Chapter Four (Red) "...Fennelfoot, Mintfeather, Russetwing, Mossclaw, Hollyspot, Leafnose, Snowberry, Ravenpaw, Juniperpaw, Moonpaw, and Cedarpaw," Crowstar declared, leaping from the branch above his den with the well-practiced ease of a cat who'd done the same routine almost his entire life. Hollyspot's heart gave a tiny flutter upon hearing her name, and she hurried out after her leader and the others. As soon as they exited the camp, they were buffeted by snow, wind like howling laughter in their ears. Snow was still falling from the sky, at a more rapid pace than before, and the chosen cats clung closely to each other, as though the next cat was a lifeline in the churning snow. The landscape was blanketed in the stuff, impeding the cats' progress and dampening their spirits. "Leafnose, it's cold," a small voice whined, and Hollyspot squinted against the snow as she turned, finding Moonpaw pressed up against her mentor's flank. The tiny apprentice was nearly lost in the blizzard, her pelt blending in with the white flakes. Leafnose's reply was lost in the wind. The sight of the fallen tree-bridge was as welcome as a warm nest, and Hollyspot tried to restrain herself from pushing to the front; after all, every cat was freezing cold and as anxious for sanctuary as the next, and it really wasn't fair to the smaller apprentices who seemed ready to be bourne off into the sky by the furious wind, which was still howling its mirth. Hollyspot nearly slipped on the ice-slicked trunk, scrabbling briefly at the wood while trying to regain her balance. Fennelfoot gave her a soft push. WindClan and RiverClan had already arrived, and Hollyspot could distinguish ThunderClan's scent behind the scent of her own Clanmates. Unusually, each Clan was in separate groups, huddling together against the cold like voles flocking together for warmth. Funny that she should think of voles ''in the present situation, Hollyspot mused, and tried to keep herself from imagining her teeth sinking into the warm, stringy flesh and hungrily devouring piece after piece of prey-- "Let all Clans gather for the meeting!" Hollyspot nearly cricked her neck as she twisted around, struggling to rearrange herself amid the pressing throng of chilled bodies. She was squeezed between Mintfeather's chubby belly and Cedarpaw, the latter's funny-smelling breath clouding around the group like some sort of toxic cloud. Greystar, the RiverClan leader, stepped forward first. Her small, sleek frame was battered by the gale, her face drawn and taut. The young leader licked her lips before addressing the crowd. "Cats of all Clans! RiverClan, like every other Clan in the forest, is suffering from this abysmal weather. We've grown hungry, and many bellies are empty because of the frozen-over river. It's freezing cold out there, you all know how it is..." She grew somber, her voice becoming as despondent as the wailing weather. "And where RiverClan would normally remain strong, it seems that StarClan has finally thwarted us." Normally, there would be defiant protests from her own Clan, and giddy gloats from the others, but this evening, there was only silence. Every cat knew the truth, and to deny it was to be delusional. Greystar stepped back with a resigned sigh, and the WindClan leader, Harestar, took her place. Harestar's eyes were as icy as the wind that swept through the cats' bones as he began to speak. "WindClan has lost an apprentice. Rabbitpaw drowned a few sunrises back. WindClan mourns his loss...but with our empty stomachs and chilled hearts, it's not too difficult to see why Rabbitpaw was lost. On the other hand, we have a new warrior, Sunscar." There was a smattering of half-hearted cheering, all from WindClan cats, and the newly-named golden warrior looked a bit uncomfortable at her less than warm welcome into warriorship. Crowstar came forward next, and Hollyspot's heart sank when she realized the news she was about to hear repeated to the cats of other Clans. "Today," Crowstar began, "we discovered four of our kits had been lost to the raging blizzard. Two others have survived and are recovering, sick, but recovering." There was a collective release of breath from every cat, and a queen in the back gave a low cry. "On a slightly more cheerful note, ShadowClan has a new warrior to welcome! Hollyspot passed her assessment with flying colors a quarter moon ago, especially in such harsh conditions!" As with Sunscar, there were only a couple of cheers from Hollyspot's own Clan, though the numbers were significantly lower. Hollyspot forced herself not to think too much of it as she turned to listen to the final Clan and leader, Gorsestar of ThunderClan. Without waiting for an invitation, Gorsestar stepped forward, his usual curl of the lip absent as he surveyed the assembled Clans. Hollyspot had personally never liked the usually arrogant leader, thinking him to be as conceited as the rest of ThunderClan; the snobby toad-brains. Today, however, the light was gone from Gorsestar's eyes and he looked as miserable as the rest. "ThunderClan is doing poorly. This is one of the worst leaf-bares we've ever had to endure, and the lack of prey and awful coldness is simply demoralizing. We do, however, have other reasons aside from our appalling weather to ascribe this to." With his usual malignant sparkle flooding back to his eyes, Gorsestar declared, "ShadowClan have been stealing our prey!" That elicited some response, and every ShadowClan cat jumped to his or her feet. Hollyspot felt the fur on her neck fluffing out in fury; how dare they accuse ShadowClan of stealing prey? They had done no such thing, nor would they ever! ShadowClan was honourable, and-- "We have done no such thing," Crowstar snarled, bristling. "In fact, I'm absolutely certain that RiverClan have been stealing from us! My warriors have found traces of their fishy scents around our borders, and it's probably the river's freezing that forced them into our territory. Mark my words, you won't get away with this." He let the last sentence hang in the air, and Hollyspot felt a satisfied smirk curling her lips. This, in fact, was true - Hollyspot had been a part of the patrol that discovered the fishy smell around their territory. Greystar looked at loss for words, her eyes trained on her own Clan as though searching for some explanation of this behavior. In her silence, Harestar stepped forward, trembling slightly and seeming uncertain of the words he was about to speak. "Rabbitpaw was killed in a battle with RiverClan," he shouted to the cats who waited with bated breath. "It's all RiverClan's fault!" A scream came up from the back of the group. "Murderers!" "That's not true," Greystar protested, cowering slightly beneath the sharp gazes of the other leaders, who - all toms - must have seemed rather intimidating. "We've stolen no prey, honest, I could swear in front of my ancestors, we've done nothing, it's been all ThunderClan!" Crowstar whipped around to face the other leader. "What have you to say for yourself, Gorsestar?" Before Hollyspot could process what was happening, she was being shoved back into Juniperpaw and a brawny ThunderClan tom had launched himself through the throng of ShadowClan warriors towards RiverClan, screaming insults with extended claws. Before their very eyes, the cats watched as the ThunderClan tom ripped the RiverClan cat nearly to shreds, the stench of blood already hanging in the freezing air. There was a moment of silence, and then battle engulfed everyone. A number of her own fellows had flung themselves at the muscular tom, while a couple of tiny RiverClan apprentices were buoying their near-dead comrade away from the battle. Hollyspot watched as a thick WindClan warrior squashed one apprentice flat, releasing her only when her eyes were glazed and blood pooled from her flanks. The others cowered in fear, getting ready to flee but with nowhere to go. "Hollyspot, watch out!" Juniperpaw's scream rang in Hollyspot's ear, and she turned just in time to sidestep a heavy RiverClan she-cat lumbering blindly at her, raising fat paws to swipe. ''Well, Hollyspot thought, this is it. My chance to show these cats what I'm made of. And so she did - she spun around at the RiverClan she-cat, whose black pelt was already crusted with blood even with the brevity of the battle. Hollyspot's claws were unsheathed, and she flung herself onto the she-cat's back, wrapping her paws around the she-cat's shoulders and flattening her to the ground. Hollyspot dug her claws into the soil, keeping her opponent from rolling over, while she battered at the RiverClan cat's ears. It took only a moment for the RiverClan cat to let out a yowl as Hollyspot sank her teeth into her shoulder, feeling the rough grate of bone against her tooth. Her opponent went away screaming as though all of the Dark Forest was on her heels, her running impaired by the shoulder injury Hollyspot had given her. The ShadowClan warrior spun around, eyes glimmering as she waited for the next opponent to try and take her on. It was a small apprentice that finally rallied up the courage; he and a couple of his fellows darted around her legs like gnats. Hollyspot frowned. She didn't really want to hurt more apprentices - after all, they were just apprentices - but nor did she want to be labeled a coward. Instead, she picked up one by the scruff while the rest straggled around her ankles, and shook him. The tiny she-cat tumbled from Hollyspot's jaws and hit the dirty floor of the island, where she lay still. One of the toms turned to Hollyspot in frightened awe, his voice barely heard over the gale, "You killed her." "Did not," Hollyspot said indignantly, giving the small cat a poke. She trembled, and Hollyspot growled at the rest. Apprentices having fled, Hollyspot searched for a new combatant, seeing an average-looking ThunderClan tom racing towards her on paws swifter than any rabbit's. The tom flung himself up and over Hollyspot's head, landing on her back and pinning her to the ground. Luckily for the ShadowClan she-cat, though, she had the advantage and flipped the ThunderClan tom over, squashing him flat. However much the tom scrabbled at her back, he was unable to turn himself over and was resigned to waiting for her to let him up. As Hollyspot lay there, thinking she could sit on this arrogant tom all night, a white tabby launched herself towards Hollyspot's exposed belly, claws already tearing through the soft fur there and sending blood dripping onto the ground. With both ThunderClan warriors advancing, Hollyspot took a brazen swipe at both. In a matter of moments, Russetwing was by her side, the red tom taking over his ThunderClan equivalent while Hollyspot fought with the white she-cat. As her ThunderClan enemy kept her claws fastened in Hollyspot's tail, the smaller ShadowClan she-cat sank her teeth into her opponent's tail. The disgusting smell of blood hit her nostrils in waves, filling her mouth with it salty tang, but Hollyspot kept her teeth pinned in the she-cat's tail until she let out a howl, the pain from Hollyspot's teeth against her tailbone becoming too much to bear. Hollyspot spun towards Russetwing's opponent as the white cat hared away. There wasn't really much of a fight to carry on. Russetwing lay in a pool of blood, his own and his assailant's mixed. The ThunderClan tom gave a satisfied snarl, but Hollyspot lunged at him, not caring where her teeth or claws made contact with. All she knew was that in less than a heartbeat, the ThunderClan cat had earned himself the same fate as Russetwing. Speaking of the dark red tom, Hollyspot sank to her paws beneath the older warrior. He was still stirring feebly, but his movements were growing slower, his breathing rough and haggard. Blood bubbled from a gash in his throat, one mirrored across his stomach. Russetwing's green eyes, flecked with gold, were normally bright, lit with the rush from the battle, but now...now, they were fading, "I'm sorry," Hollyspot whispered, as the battle raged on around the two still bodies. Hollyspot felt tears welling in her eyes, and had to force herself away from her fallen friend. That was what happened in battles, all the time - cats died, lives - friends, mates, kits, family - all lost. And loss, Hollyspot had grown to realize, now played all too big a part in her life.